Ziost, healers and exploiters… oh my.

So in all honesty, I got to try out the Ziost line on PTS when they announced it for Subs only. I went through it, mostly spacebarring. I didn’t really want to ruin it completely for myself. But taking my time and actually watching the cutscenes, I was impressed with the story content, that I was disappointed when I got to the end cause I really wanted to finish it and know what happened. But I only did it on my Sage on JC pubside, I’ll eventually get to do it on my other characters later on after May 4th.

Ziost storyline, for the little tidbit that they gave us. I look forward to finding out the rest of the storyline. As I said before, I’m impressed so far with the storyarch. What I expect is alot more of history/lore about Ziost. I find it real interesting on the beginning areas of Ziost beautifully done, the vibe is well done.

~ Healers

There was so much controversy on the patch of 3.2.1 that was on the PTS. I’m impressed with the community as far as presenting a valid argument to the Dev team. To have 3.2.1 amended and having the healer changes dropped. Now from some of the players that I spoke to, some were ‘Eh’ about it, and others considered it a real nerf. When 3.0 hit, Bioware made it apparent to its players that changes would be coming to rebalance classes and for PvP streamlining.

Bioware still needs to work on being a bit more transparent with the community. Like I said in my ‘Cantina event follow up‘, now granted there’s so much legality involved with the Star Wars IP, so Bioware has to be tight-lip about certain things. But maybe, just maybe they need to be a little more accommodating with releasing new content/info.

~ Exploits

Well what a surprise about this, so apparently an exploit has been arisen that allowed some players to get into the new area and players downed the World Boss along with another boss type. Now for some players, they’re saying that it’s Biowares fault for not taking out the bosses from the new area. While others say that these individuals deserve the punishment.

For myself, I’m kind of on the fence only because both sides of the argument have valid points. But also keep in mind that while it was on the PTS ‘holes’ to the new area were patched up to not allow players access to the closed area. And that ‘new’ holes only happened when it went to the live servers, so I don’t think it’s completely the fault of Bioware this time. But it’s good to see that they are taking swift actions against those players.

One of the things we tried to be clear about with the Ravagers is that we are serious about handling exploits. With that exploit, the Ravagers we were open about our process and the action we were taking. For this issue with Ziost, we are going to do the same.

If a player is bypassing the environment to access an area they should not be able to, and then killing a boss to get loot they should also not have access to, we absolutely consider this an exploit. We are investigating this issue right now, and will be actioning any player who participates, or has participated, in this exploit.

If you ever hear of or find something that can be exploited, do not test it yourself. Please notify us immediately and privately. Some of you brought this issue to our attention on PTS and we thank you for that. We closed that opening, but it seems that there is another method of getting into the area.

We would also like to thank those of you who did not exploit and who have brought this to our attention. Our goal will always be to create a safe and fair environment for our players.

As I mentioned earlier this morning, we very quickly isolated what the exploit entailed and began an investigation into players who have participated. As of now, we have identified those unique accounts which have gone into the blocked off area of Ziost, and killed one of the two bosses present. For each of these players, they will receive a minimum of the following action:*Multiple day suspension*Removal of all gear earned through defeating those bosses*Removal of all achievements earned through defeating those bosses*Reduction in Elite and Ultimate Commendations

We will continue to monitor the blocked off area of Ziost throughout Monday, May the 4th, which is when it opens officially. Any player who is found to participate in this exploit beyond today’s notice will likely receive more aggressive action. Thank you all for bringing this to our attention.

I wanted to give you an update on the Ziost exploit that was discovered. As mentioned in my post yesterday, we took action against those players who had participated and we are continuing to monitor for additional players throughout May 4th. In doing so, we have discovered more players who were exploiting last night. Since we had previously expressed that participation was considered an exploit, we are going to be increasing the action taken against these players. Those players will all be receiving a minimum of a one week suspension, along with the other actions which we listed yesterday.

To reiterate, we will continue to monitor this issue throughout the morning of May 4th when the area goes live. Action will continue against players who participate in this exploit. Thank you all for helping us to keep The Old Republic a fun and fair place for everyone.